HD Dreamcast Achieved, Component AES (NEO-GEO) on the horizon
I have been focused on improving the A/V capabilities of my game systems since I bought a high-definition TV several months ago. I have bought the Nintendo-brand component cables and Monster Game A/V cables for my Gamecube and Psyclone "Competition Grade" component A/V cables for my X-Box in the past few months, but my latest upgrade is the coolest to me. I finally laid hold of a Sega-brand VGA cable for my Dreamcast thanks to an eBay auction a few weeks ago, and picked up a Grandtec Grand Hi-Wire VGA-to-HDTV converter the same way. It was delivered yesterday and it works like a champ. The device has numerous conversion settings, picture size and location adjustments, as well as standard color, brightness and contrast. After playing around with the settings, I've determined that 720p is best for game viewing, but the output formats supported are 480p, 576p (PAL), 720p, and 1080i. Something unexpectedly cool is that the formats higher than 480p all display in widescreen, which makes Soul Calibur on DC and Soul Calibur 2 on the X-box look more similar than you might expect. The Dreamcast was a forward-looking piece of hardware, and the VGA box solidifies that for me. The only other home console to use a VGA connection to date has been the X-Box 360, which debuted about 6 years after the DC.
Next, I am interested in getting the Monster Game component cables for the PS2 (I have the Sony-brand ones) for a bit more shielding and then I want to get my Neo Geo AES REI modded by Neotropolis for stereo sound, component video, and a new BIOS chip. After those two, I'm going to look into eliminating my dependence on RF modulators for the older systems, which is going to take some work.
Posted by gmsnpr, February 12, 2006 11:27am
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/profile/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=24313296&user=gmsnpr